—then he pronounced the taslīm; thus the Prophet ﷺ completed four rakʿahs with two taslīms, whereas the people prayed only two.

2 – In this format the prayer is shortened: for the Prophet ﷺ the first two rakʿahs were the obligatory prayer, after which he repeated it voluntarily in order to maintain fairness among his Companions.

3 – His leading each of the two contingents in two rakʿahs indicates the permissibility of someone performing an obligatory prayer following an imam who is praying voluntarily, as occurred in the incident of Muʿādh when he led his people.

4 – The ḥadīth shows that justice is to be practiced according to one’s capacity. The group with whom he prayed the obligatory prayer were superior to those with whom he prayed the supererogatory prayer, yet this was the extent of equity the Prophet ﷺ could achieve between them.

5 – In this wording, the ḥadīth does not contradict the preceding report even though both relate to the same campaign, for several prayers were performed during that expedition; one narration refers to one obligatory prayer and the other to a separate obligatory prayer.